This is a ride report for the Melcalf Mauler ride of December 30, 2014. It was so windy that day that the ride leaders who met us at Metcalf Park, Joan Freed, Art Cruz, and Donny Axtell decided not to ride. Don asked Lisa Curran to be the leader, but after starting-up Metcalf Road, Lisa also gave-it-up. I became the default leader and created this report as an email message to the riders.

Thanks for co-leading the afternoon Mauler again today, Donny. It’s probably a good thing that Joan & you didn’t try to ride today. The windstorm was too much for everyone. Minh and Paul did the backside but didn’t do Hassler. I’m the only one who did the whole thing, including Hassler. But it was a struggle.

I ask you and I ask Lisa, “Should we cancel this ride?” No one says, “No.”

Art joins us on the bikepath and we start chugging to the 101 overpass. We could feel that it was a whippersnappin northeasterly. As we approach the viaduct, Lisa decides to scratch. She turns-around right there. A good idea. It’s galeforce sidewind on the viaduct. Minh & Paul are “Woeing” on the tandem. Jimbo Williams slices-across there. He’s shaped like a bladed spoke from the side.

Art has had enough at the trail to Basking Ridge. “I’m not going up there”, he shouts to me. So it’s just Jim, the tandem & Muy. I thought that the hill would provide a windbreak but ‘tisn’t so. Wind is pouring right-down the ramps, steady 20 mph, gusting to 35. It’s almost as tough as a Summer Mauler when it’s 90+ degrees. I hang-back with Minh & Paul to see if they’ll bail. Minh stands-up to stoke. “Man you crank this thing really hard and nothing happens. It just won’t go like my single bike. So you’re here to coach us, Guy?” “No, Minh, I’m not trying to push you guys. I just want you to know that it’s OK to cancel this ride at any moment.” “How long does it take you to do this climb?” asks Minh. “Twenty minutes.” “No, Guy. What is a REASONABLE time?”, asks Paul. “You guys should be able to do it in 24 minutes on a normal day.” Minh comments, “I’ve got to ride home after this ride. I didn’t bring lights. So we may just turn-around at the summit.”

We drift apart. Jim continues to the summit, turns-around and passes me as he returns to Morgan Hill.

I’m at the summit by 3:10 PM. That’s 30 minutes for my Mauler time today. Twenty minutes of hill and ten minutes of wind.

I realize that no one’s going to continue this ride unless I do so. I recall a conversation I had with Alison Chaiken yesterday. We were doing Jerome’s east hills goatgetter ride. Alison did San Felipe and Metcalf. She’s been living/travelling in Germany and Holland for most of the year. She’s rented/ridden bikes across a lot of country. She’s been blogging her adventuresome & scenic rides. “It’s wonderful to return to this area and do these hills. It’s just so beautiful right here. Just going out on the Metcalf loop brings you to some of the prettiest places on the Planet. I’m happy to be back and am looking forward to showing-up on Club rides. It’s a joy to ride around right here.”

OK, here’s Muy,feeling the joy right here, ready to plunge down the backside of Metcalf. This ride is not completely canceled. There are small tree branches slithering in the road. Watch for trees down. Two PG&E trucks are flashing along a curve of the road past the rocket factory. The trucks have a stake-out near a blue oak tree that’s leaning toward the power lines. Branches of laurel trees are bobbing, swaying, and switching with the wicked gusts. The bay leaves switch-about in unison, like a swarm of minnows, all turning at once. There is some shelter from the wind as you go up to the eucalyptus grove at the summit of San Felipe.

The scene at the grove is frightening. The branches of the giant eucalyptus trees are waving like pom-poms and making the sound of crashing waves. No large limbs are down but the road is littered with small branches, eucalyptus corns and scrolls of bark. “It could be worse”, Muy tells himself. He was caught in a hailstorm at this spot once. It was a Tierra Bella Workers’ ride several years ago. Supercooled hailstones stuck to his long-sleeve black jersey. Muy was pokadotted with white pea-sized stones. No windbreaker, no gloves. He had to race down the arroyo to minimize the exposure to lightening and freezing rain.

Chuting the arroyo is a challenge. You have to slalom around the small branches and litter. Sure enough, a small branch whaps into the front crown of the helmet and a twig scratches the chin. Dropping-down this canyon is scary-enough without having the feeling that there’s a crazy third hand on the handlebars, trying to hornswoggle the bike. Good thing this ride is cancelled.

I’m able to continue on the regular route through the hills and up Hassler hill. As you near the summit of Hassler you get a magical feeling of ease. You’re enjoying the force of the surging easterly tailwind. Maybe you could coast-up this hill. Major forces whip the bike as it careens down Hassler toward highway 101. Hassler turns and rolls-out onto a section where you are fairly close to the highway. The sun’s so low on December 30 that you ride into the shadows of semi trucks headed North on 101. More rage and wonder.

Returning on Hellyer Ave. is very wind-aided. Thanks to your careful planning, Donny, we don’t have to go north, into this wind. If we did, I would have dropped-out of this ride too. Home by 4:30. I won’t have to dust-off the bike for a while. See you on the Hicks ride on New Years’ Day.

The 2013 Amgen Tour of California is bringing the Individual Time Trial back to San Jose!!!
On Friday, May 17th, Stage 6 will find these professional riders racing the clock while climbing two local Billy Goats – Bailey/Buffalo Hill and Metcalf Rd!

ACTC club members are very familiar with the Bailey/Buffalo Hill goat, having climbed it over 700 times last year alone! But the big test for the pros will be the climbing finish at the top of Metcalf Rd, nearly 1,000 ft in less than 2 miles, with gradients of 15-20% throughout the climb!

Looking for a club ride to test your climbing capabilities on either of these goats? We have a couple regularly scheduled rides for each goat:

Metcalf:Metcalf Mauler – Kim Carr and Don Axtell have been leadng club riders at an MB pace up this intrepid climb every Thursday evening for years!Wednesday Metcalf Mauler – Tom Green leads this 33 mile M paced ride to Metcalf Rd on the first Wednesday morning of each month.

The TB Worker’s Ride, held for all the Tierra Bella volunteers as both a final check of the route’s street markings and as a thank you BBQ, will be held on Sunday, April 7th. Volunteer now, so you can join in on the fun! Details will be published soon!

The Argonaut ride did find some signs indicating road closures and possible delays for July 23 – August 3 on Kennedy (east slope), Shannon (east slope) and Hicks (from Shannon to Reynolds)

Lots of patching has been done, lots of spray paint markings on roads with word CHIP, and center line reflectors removed and replaced with the temporary yellow tape ones.

I have not called the county but thought you might want to be aware of this, maybe have a retired member sit on hold with county roads or look on line? Since this is one of our clubs most ridden goats might want to check it out and put an temporary advisory on the home page.

Upon arrival at the Belmont Park N Ride by 7:30 am in temperatures in the high thirties, I wondered who’d show up for the 8am ride when Vince Cummings, Alison Chaiken, Tom Mac, Christine Nguyen, Stuart Wallace, John Blaine and guest Brice Wu showed up to conquer a day of climbing, which turned out to be pretty nice…

Initially I was shooting for an 85-105 mile route, but the shorter days, questionable weather and big climbs suggested a good December route of 65 miles. Unfortunately, I had expected rain so I neglected to carry my camera. Since the elevation profile above nicely depicts the goats, I’ll summarize:

Sneath Lane Sweeney Ridge

This was my first time on this 5-rated, three mile goat. It’s a nicely paved trail up to an ‘abandoned military base’, but has placards depicting some sort of Nike Anti-ballistic missile action from the Cold War.

This may have been the last time to get credit for climbing the safe and (in)sane Manor Drive in Pacifica. Although I’ve never seen traffic on it and it’s now nicely paved, it has been removed to make room for impressive goats like Stevens Canyon (560ft in 5.5 mi), as opposed to the wimpy 570 ft. in 1.2 miles (per RideWithGPS) . To quote newbie Brice, “I never need to do that again.”

San BrunoMountain

This is always a fun goat due to its steady grade and views from the top of Radio Road:

Brice Wu, Stuart Wallace and Alison Chaiken at Radio RdSummit:

After descending San BrunoMountain, most of the crew opted to stop for lunch. Appreciating the early day, Tom and I continued to the trail back to the Belmont Park N Ride.